I haven't watched much anime in recent years. Like a lot of users, I was an avid consumer of the medium in my early 20s, but my viewership steadily declined as I approached 30 and other interests took over. A few years ago, I watched "Attack on Titan" and it was dreadful, giving me the impression that I wasn't missing out on much.

One night, on a lark, I decided to give "One Punch Man" a shot, which I didn't have particularly high hopes for.

Not only did it turn out to be an excellent series, but it revitalized my interest in anime.

The show is simple enough, following the exploits of heroic, dull-witted Saitama, who decides to become a costumed hero after failing a job interview and encountering a half human, half crab mutant in his underwear attacking people nearby. Unfortunately, after three years of training, he has reached a point where he kills every opponent with a single punch, leading to a boring existence where no villain, no matter how terrifying or deadly, presents any challenge to him.

Surely, this one-note joke would wear thin quickly?

It doesn't, thanks to the series' masterful navigation between action, humor, and parody, all within the same episode.

As a pure action series, cutting out all the jokes, it's very good. Fight choreography is crisp and frequently inventive, featuring an array of moves and bizarre combatants. Madhouse did a fine job animating it, with numerous frames and a keen eye for detail. Hell, "One Punch Man" is a much better fight anime than most dead serious shows in the genre. Consider the match between Genos and Mosquito Girl. Take away Saitama's presence, and you have a memorable fight that wouldn't be out of place in any classic action anime.

And that's an important point to keep in mind. The fights themselves are always treated with full seriousness, never as a joke. This gives them meaning, important in a series where the protagonist's victory is assured.

As a comedy, it's not uproarious, but it has plenty of funny moments. Saitama's calm, dull-witted attitude towards life in the midst of inhuman freaks, a silly professional Hero Association, and a generally bizarre world produces considerable amusement. At the same time, it doesn't go too far, to the point of making Saitama an idiot or embarrassing him, as so many other series do. This is especially important because at crucial moments throughout the series, Saitama proves that he is a real hero, not merely in physical strength but in strength of character.

In fact, the entire cast shines here. The teen cyborg Genos is a trusty, likable sidekick to Saitama. Amai Mask and Metal Knight are both enigmatic, seemingly villainous entities whose intentions are shrouded in mystery. Even one-note characters like Spring Mustachio or Puripuri Prisoner are funny and have more inspired designs than many leads. Everyone has a unique look and defined personality.

As a parody, there are numerous characters and moments inspired by other shows. Some are played for laughs, like the arrogant ninja killer Sonic being a hapless, overconfident take on Hiei from YuYu Hakusho. Or the Deep Sea King's fangs and heart decorations reminding one of Dio Brando from JoJo.
Others are worthy tributes to the original, like Genos being a version of Casshern.

Combine the action, humor, and parody together, and one has a truly special, excellent series, one whose mass popularity is genuinely deserved. Strongly recommended for all anime fans.

Sometimes you just feel like watching a fucking weird series, one you never normally would. "Bikini Warriors" is one of my strangest selections. It's an unabashed softcore porn series, a genre that has become popular in the past six years. I decided the gamble was worth it because of how short it was (12 episodes at 4 minutes each) and that it was ostensibly a comedy.

It exceeded my expectations. It's a parody through and through, mocking conventions of JRPGs (particularly the "Dragon Quest" series, whose logo it mimics), similar softcore porn anime, and the general concept of attractive women fighting
in revealing clothing.

One episode notes how bizarre it is that one can loot villager's treasures in JRPGs without them noticing. Another how bikini armor all looks the same, despite different stats, and inconceivably provides protection. Another on deciding between new members of the party. And so on.

None of this is remotely original, but it's pulled off well, presenting itself with a wink and a nod. I found myself smirking frequently. And with the short runtime, it's well-paced.

There is still plenty of softcore porn, but it never felt like it got in the way of the humor. (Unlike the Special) The 12 episodes do run out of steam near the end. There were about 8-10 episodes' worth of amusing ideas, and the rest were only made to come in at the standard length.

Judged on its own merits, it's good. As a remake of the 1998 anime or an adaptation of the manga, it's awful.

Part of the problem is trying to cram so many events into such a short movie. We barely get a glimpse into Guts' past, and nothing about Griffith or Caska, which is central to understanding them. We don't see all but one of the battles the Hawks win, many of which are vital to the story. And even that lone victory is abbreviated. No one in the Band of the Hawk except Griffith, Guts, and Caska gets any attention. Judeau gets a
few speaking lines and is a non-entity. Pippin and Rickert aren't even introduced by name and spend a few seconds in the background of scenes.

Perhaps worst of all, Caska comes across as a dumb bitch. Caska is a fine character and her unique relationship with Guts develops over the course of dozens of interactions and numerous battles over the course of many years. She is intelligent and the third-most skilled member of the Band of the Hawk with a sword. In the movie, she is just loud, annoying, petty, self-centered, and incompetent. A shame.

Aside from bowdlerizing the story and characters, even the presentation of the battles is lackluster. Battles are shortened, and don't convey their awe-inspiring size and scope in the manga or earlier anime. While I'm not as massively against the 3D animation as most are, it's definitely disappointing in several places. Most prominently in the Nosferatu Zodd fight, as the amazing Zodd looks clunky in both forms. Also, there was no "Forces", the iconic song that plays during the battle scenes, and is more perfectly suited for the Berserk universe and its battles than Griffith is for yaoi fan fiction. While it was released 14 years later, the movie is far more primitive and inferior to the anime series in presentation in every way.

I could go on and on. This movie was disappointing, feeling like a cheap cash-in on the franchise.

Junji Ito, easily the greatest horror mangaka ever, decided to write an autobiographical diary about taking care of his two cute cats with his wife. It was a radical departure, but Ito's talent shined through, creating a funny, entertaining work.

Despite being a manga about two adorable felines and his wife, Ito uses the same drawing style and presentation as for his horror manga. The wife has pupil-less eyes and a demonic grin. The cats are constantly drawn as creepy, fearsome beings internally plotting among themselves for their owner's demise. Frequently, Ito draws himself as an insane monster. This
art style and presentation, when contrasted against the stories of taking care of two adventurous felines, is amusing and stays that way throughout the almost 200 pages of the manga. Everyone outside of Ito's household is drawn as a normal, cheerful person, adding to the humor.

The individual chapters detail different episodes of dealing with cats, from their adoption to them curling up on a bed to one escaping and being caught. It's entertaining enough for cat lovers and owners, but one obviously shouldn't expect Ito's usual creativity. It is, after all, a cat diary. Ito was smart enough to end it after 10 chapters, before the cat's antics became repetitive, and the charm of the horror-style presentation faded away.

One aspect I really enjoyed were the color photos of Ito's two real-life cats contained near the end of the manga. After seeing them, I was even more impressed by Ito's fictional depiction of them in the manga. Then again, as a cat lover myself, I know there is a little devil inside even the most innocent of cats!

Junji Ito's Cat Diary is a good, solid manga I would recommend to any fans of his, cat lovers, or anyone looking for a short, fun read.

While I have always liked science, and presently research it for a living, I only got into science fiction books in the last 3 years. I discovered that scientific knowledge differs wildly among authors. In fact, many great sci-fi writers didn't necessarily need a good scientific base, as Harry Harrison's work demonstrates. Thus, I was excited to read a science fiction manga.

Unfortunately, the manga's author, Kuji, possesses less scientific knowledge than a bright 8 year-old, and his scenario is crappy shounen potboiler.

The premise is simple. A team of three astronauts must stop an electrical system that has
gone haywire on the Moon because of damage from an unexpected meteor shower five years ago, which also killed three astronauts. Of course, the main character on our team, Tyco, counts her father among the casualties.

Right away, we are plunged into idiocy. The manga informs us that electricity has "nowhere to go" without an atmosphere. Really? Have they ever heard of grounding? This has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of an atmosphere. The electricity wouldn't be freely crackling in the air; it would have been absorbed into the Moon's surface.

Moreover, if there was significant damage to an electrical system causing it to pump out far more electricity than normal, it wouldn't still have plenty of current five years later. The fuses would have blown out.

But it becomes even more moronic, if that's possible. Because, in that same speech bubble, we are informed that the electricity is becoming "more powerful". What in the blue fuck?! This is impossible for the same reason perpetual motion is impossible; where is the system obtaining this steady stream of new energy from?

Kuji isn't done. How do you think our intrepid astronauts decide to get rid of this impossible, magically increasing electrical storm? Do they ground it somehow, perhaps even with something as simple as a very long pole? Of course not. Do they, even if ignorant of any and all science, send in a robot to turn off some switches? Considering this story takes place well into the future, where it only takes 3 days to make it to the Moon, and we actually had these robots when this work was published, 2012, the author surely would have thought of it, no? He did not.

Instead, the only apparent solution is to have an astronaut manually go inside the magical electrical building to turn the switches off. (I guess they were NOT damaged that badly by the meteorites, huh?)

Of course, this leads to the typical hot-blooded shounen bullshit of the main characters suffering injury and pain, but angrily gritting through. In particular, our heroes note that they have to do this for the reputation of astronauts, and fuck those asshole journalists on Earth who doubt them! (Seriously, that's the rationale given by this manga)

Even forgetting Kuji's shameless ignorance of science, this is a scenario many teen fanfic writers could improve upon.

Kuji the Dunce even chickens out on having anyone die; everyone makes it out safe and sound. This is a wretched, terrible, and downright embarrassing manga. Sad, because I would love to read a good science fiction work.

I signed up to MyAnimeList in July 2008, and read YKK within a year. At that time, it was rated around a 9 and perennially ranked in the top 5 manga, including a stint at #1. Now, 6+ years later, it's rated 8.67 and #48, while Akira is in the top 25, a JoJo series is in the top 10, and two Urasawa manga are in the top 6.

In other words, good job, manga MAL readers!

YKK is about a young woman, Alpha Hatsuseno, who owns a small coffee shop in rural Japan and runs errands on a motorized scooter.
This takes place after a global apocalypse...but that never becomes relevant to the story. And Alpha is either an android or robot...but that never becomes relevant to the story.

It's been well over 6 years since I read the manga, but I remember YKK like it was yesterday. Not because it was memorable, mind you, but because there was so damn little to remember!

There is no conflict or even plot to the 14 volumes. They consist of Alpha drinking coffee, making small talk with the few other characters, riding a scooter to various errands, and contemplating nature. That's it. Many panels don't even have speech bubbles.

I even set a personal record. I have always read manga quickly, but never before have I managed to consistently read an entire volume of work, normally 150-250 pages, in 5 minutes flat.

The whole time I was asking myself, "why am I reading this"? Is there a compelling, interesting story? No. Are the characters interesting? No. Is it funny? No. Enlightening? No. What's the damn point? I have an extremely wide range of what I'm willing to enjoy, including high school shoujo romances and avant garde, surrealist works.

But utterly empty navel-gazing? No thanks.

I can't even buy that it conveys an appreciation for nature or Shintoism. For one, I get that sense far better hiking on a trail or in a forest. And secondly, the art is far too sparse and simplistic to convey any of that imagery. Maybe if we were talking about a landscape artist on the level of John Constable, JMW Turner, or Isaac Levitan, but we're not. Even by typical manga standards, Hitoshi Ashanano's art is average and unexceptional.

What a shame. I will never understand how sequels develop amnesia, forgetting everything that made the original appealing.

I wrote a very positive review of the prequel here;

http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=198705

The sequel features Mari, or Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman, continuing her battle against the Black Buddha cult. Unfortunately, that's about the only quality left intact.

You know how the original focused on zany characters and situations, and just tried to be funny? Well, that's gone. The enemies here are bland and they don't even attempt a joke for long portions of the run time.

What has it
been replaced by? Well, for one, there is more nudity and sexual content, and now it's presented for its own sake, annoying the portion of the audience that doesn't care about poorly-animated softcore porn from 1994.

However, the largest difference is how much time is spent focusing on emotional melodrama, particularly a love triangle between Mari and Tobishima (secretly her archenemy) and the lesbian lust Mari's roommate Saori feels for her. Throughout these nauseating scenes, which occupy far more time than the fights, the anime treats itself dead seriously, and genuinely expects viewers to buy into its romances.

This, from an anime featuring tentacle rape monsters in its first few minutes, including Mari being violated by an octopus in a pose similar to Hokusai's "Dream of the Fisherman's Wife";

Since they've abandoned the humor and colorful enemies and techniques, what we're left with is a really crappy, stupid romance mixed with equally lousy softcore porn. Watch the original, but avoid this disappointing trash.

As I'm sure is true for most, I decided to watch this anime because of the name. Merely saying "Butt Attack Punisher Girl" out loud makes me laugh. But is that all the OVA has going for it? After all, many works have a neat name or even amusing premise, but are as fun to sit through as a colonoscopy.

Luckily, that is not the case here. "Butt Attack Punisher Girl" is a silly comedy through and through, never presenting itself as anything else. And in that capacity, it succeeds.

Mari Amache is a shy, sheltered Christian who is intimidated by the
mere presence of men. Saori Minami is the tough, assertive, Hindi girl who befriends and takes care of her. There is heavy sexual tension between the two throughout. They both attend a boarding school called PR (Perfect Religion!) which is afflicted by an evil cult called Black Buddha.

And, just six minutes into the OVA, Minami is kidnapped by Black Buddha, causing a Buddha to speak to Mari and transform her into our titular, slutty-looking superhero.

It would be easy to milk the humor of Mari wearing a revealing outfit that every single character makes lewd remarks about, and she is constantly embarrassed by. If that was the case, the joke would wear thin quickly, and make for a crappy OVA.

Instead, they consistently ramp up the humor with increasingly more bizarre, insane enemies and situations. For instance, we are introduced early on to "Brainwashing Demon Scary Newspaper Man" and his evil weapon, the "Scary Newspaper". There are also the "Delinquent Sextuplets Battalion Mutsugorous", six copies of the same extremely old-looking, perverted "student". However, they pale before "Dark Vader", a giant sumo wrestler wearing a thong, Darth Vader helmet, and nothing else.

The techniques are also great, my favorite being when Gautaman catches a sword between her butt cheeks and breaks it off.

I could go on, but the point should be clear. They revel in their absurdity, and it makes the anime genuinely funny and entertaining.

And yes, there is some nudity and sexual content, as part of the appeal for viewers in that ancient year of 1994, before quick and readily available Internet porn, was the softcore porn aspect of the work. However, it never gratuitously focuses on that to the detriment of the humor.

The series is chock-full of references that the subtitles helpfully point out. The two main protagonists are named after Japanese singers, and there are countless references to manga artists, anime, and elements of pop culture. All of these went over my head, but might be amusing for a hardcore Japanophile.

If you're looking for a funny, delightfully insane anime, check this OVA out.

I remember this being one of the better DBZ movies when I was a dumbass 14 year-old who liked the franchise, half a lifetime ago. I particularly recall enjoying the biomechanical monsters the Z warriors fought. Needless to write, nostalgia clouded my judgment.

As with any property related to DBZ, the plot is insipid. A mad scientist, Dr. Kochin, is able to easily gather all 7 Dragonballs before Goku and company even figure out what is going on. Some defenders of Earth they are! What is the point of even having a radar if they are going to ignore
it? It's not like Goku has a day job.

After summoning the Eternal Dragon, instead of wishing for ultimate power to easily defeat anyone in the universe, Dr. Kochin wishes for a few piddly glaciers to melt. This frees up the main mad scientist, Dr. Wheelo, who has been trapped there for 50 years.

Magically, despite being there all that time and unable to escape, he has a fully functioning laboratory, a power supply, and numerous minions when the glaciers are broken! Frankly, I was disappointed he didn't have a French restaurant with waiters, too.

Instead of getting straight to the fights, there is an interlude during which Gohan is back home and studying. It is boring and worthless. As usual with DBZ, there is entirely too much talking in this movie, and of the most moronic variety. "I'll make you pay!" "Silence, you fool!" "(Insert character name, yelled loudly)" "You can't win!" "My boy is growing up!"

Considering how mediocre and low-effort the fight scenes are to begin with, did the animators really have to take a break to insert dialogue worse than a 13 year-old's fan fiction?

Okay okay, but what about the actual enemies and fights themselves? While better than some of the DBZ movie sequels, they weren't as cool as I remembered them. Dr. Wheelo's biomechanical creations fight and function very similarly to the standard alien antagonists of the Z universe. Hell, they even look like aliens. One has a stretchy stomach, another ice breath, and a third tentacles of electricity. That's about it for the "creativity".

Also, any final fight that ends with a spirit bomb is disappointing and anticlimactic.

I can't imagine anything more boring (Goku stands there, with his hands raised, doing nothing) or more deus ex machina. (An easy get out of jail card when Goku is weaker than his nemesis but needs to defeat him in the last few minutes of the film)

In conclusion, this is lousy, although admittedly not as wretched as some of the mass-produced DBZ movies that followed.